Skiing with Kids in Adelboden, Switzerland

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Depending on where you live, you may be anticipating or dreading the onset of winter. If you love to ski, you’re definitely in the first category! Skiing is a fantastic family activity that promotes bonding, well-being, and fun—all out in nature’s playground. If you’re up for booking a truly amazing ski vacation this season, skiing with kids in Adelboden, Switzerland will fulfill your family’s ultimate ski bunny fantasies.

Switzerland is for skiers

Switzerland was designed for skiers. Their winter tourism industry thrives on snow-loving visitors and there are hundreds of ski resorts throughout the Swiss Alps to choose from. The Adelboden-Lenk ski resort region is just one hour from the capital city of Bern, in the mountainous Bernese Oberland region of the Alps. At over 1,400 metres (4,500 feet), Adelboden’s ski area is high enough to be assured of good, consistent snowfall every winter. There are many mountains, gondolas and ski-lifts to choose from with nearly 200 miles of runs. The ski terrain varies from Blue (easy), Red (intermediate) to the difficult Black runs, and be sure to stay clear from skull and crossbone signs that mean a cliff edge is nearby.

Adelboden at Night (Photo credit: PHOTOPRESS/Adelboden)

Why Adelboden

The village of Adelboden has been a ski region for over one hundred years, before lifts were even built. Plus, the resort really knows how to host families on great ski holidays. The village is charming and walkable, with many local boutique shops, bakeries and restaurants.

Consider yourself lucky if the dinner table next to you breaks out into yodeling while enjoying some fondue. It’s just that kind of place. Adelboden is a down-to-earth resort, frequented by as many Swiss skiers as foreign visitors, which speaks to the quality of the ski terrain and resort amenities.

Skiing with kids in Adelboden

If your children are new to skiing, you’ll need to book some lessons at the Ski School (Ski Schule). Adelboden’s school offers lessons for children 3 years and up, and teaches kids the basics while familiarizing them with the mountains and challenging runs. The camps and lessons are grouped by age (and ability), and offer first class instruction in a myriad of languages.

As an added benefit, Adelboden offers children under 6 a free Snowli Gift Card, which includes ski passes and mini-lift tickets for the ski region. The resort also offers special rates for family ski passes, which certainly helps with older children.

Travelling on a plane with ski gear isn’t the most fun. Happily, Adelboden’s sport rental shops eliminate the need to worry about huffing your skis across the Atlantic. You can reserve your ski equipment ahead of time by contacting one of the many rental shops in the village. They all offer a wide variety of quality, brandname ski and snowboard equipment. Just be sure you know your height and weight in metric!

Have you ever skied in Switzerland or overseas? What did you enjoy most about that ski holiday? Share your experiences in the comments below!

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About Claudia Laroye, The Curious Travel Mama

Claudia Laroye lives in Vancouver, Canada, with her husband and two sons (ages 18 and 20). She started travelling at a very young age, and has never stopped. She’s had the fortune of visiting more than 20 countries on four continents, and has also lived abroad in Sweden. Claudia is passionate about family travel and about educating children through the travel experience. She is the author of the thetravellingmom.ca, and contributes to many online and print media publications. Connect with Claudia on Twitter as @travelling_mom.

This is something I need to correct, but I’ve never been skiing anywhere! Chalk it up to being a southerner and hating the cold. I haven’t been to Switzerland either. Maybe we need to head out west to learn a bit before booking a flight to Switzerland. Looks like a good trip.

I would love to go there! What I’m most curious about is the apres-ski ambiance and what kind of lunch options they have. I’m imagining fondue and raclette, but maybe it’s just burgers and fries like we get at North American resorts?

The apres-ski ambiance is down to earth and family-friendly. Not ‘party-hardy-like’ at all. Lunch options at various mountain restaurants offer a variety of hot/cold food items, such as alpine cheese specialities, mixed salads, schnitzels, sausages & european wieners, and fruit pies. Fries yes, no burgers though. Most restaurants also have a ‘brown bag’ picnic area if you pack your own food, and offer a children’s menu (i.e. wieners & fries, grilled cheese) that hit the spot after a morning on the slopes.

Thanks for your comment, Ellen. The cost of getting to Switzerland vs Whistler would be the biggest difference of course. But if we take out travel costs and focus only on accommodation, lift tickets, rentals, etc., then I would say that those costs are on par, but Switzerland would be more on restaurants (adds up quickly) and grocery costs. Whistler is an aggressive marketer for booking packages (i.e. hotel & lift ticket combos), where in Switzerland it’s a bit more independent. In terms of travel connections, Adelboden is only 45 minutes driving distance from Bern. The nearest international airport is Zurich. Cheers!

Hi there! I'm Colleen Lanin, the founder of Travel Mamas. I launched this family travel blog in 2009 to help parents better connect with their kids and the world through travel and beyond. I love being a mom, traveling, swimming in fabulous hotel pools, and doing Pilates so I can eat lots of gluten-free dessert. Click on the pic to learn more about moi!